"The misery and aggression of the world, the hate and warlike
sentiment," a great psychiatrist had said the other day, "are due
to two causes: physical hunger in the Orient; in the Occident, the
fantastic sex repressions derived from Christianity, so called, and
obtaining still in the materialist societies."
There it was--in the words of a psychological scientist.
Not a single statesman that I knew of had picked up the thought.
"A penny," Gwen said.
I apologized. "It's too intricate. It's a summing up of various truths
rejected or denied. We're out of the habit of seeing them. So it might
take me a couple of years to explain."
Gwen laughed. "Swell! I'll come by, an hour a day--and lie on your
couch--and you can explain."
"Maybe," I said, "if they'd listened to you just now--and compared what
you said with what they honestly feel--but they won't!"
"They will if you get them in the mood--and alone."
"Many?"
"Darned near all--that I ever see. You'd be astonished."
"Still--that doesn't matter. Because when they act they act as a mob.
And as a mob--they never admit what they really think and feel and
dream and wish and long for. They just fight."
An expression came into her eyes that was part speculative and part
cautious. "Some like that, too. Like to be hurt."
"Sure. The guilt again. The old quid pro quo."